Nrc Says Radiation Presented No Danger In Laurys Station

October 18, 1985|by TOM LOWRY, The Morning Call

The health of residents in Laurys Station was never endangered by "excessive releases" of radiation discovered last October at the headquarters of a company performing industrial radiography, Nuclear Regulatory Commission officials told about 40 of those residents last night.

The commission fined North American Inspection, just off Route 145 in the North Whitehall Township village, $5,000 for 12 violations of regulatory requirements found after NRC officials inspected a three-bay garage the company uses as its home base. The NRC said some of the violations included "excessive" releases of radiation. The company's owner has challenged the fine in federal court.

Four NRC officials from the Region 1 office in King of Prussia and the company's owner were in attendance at the meeting in St. Johns United Church of Christ in Laurys Station last night to present their sides and answer questions from residents.

Company President Keith Shumway said only two of the 12 violations are legitimate and, "We're going to fight this until we fall over dead. Nobody's ever been exposed (to radiation) from our facility." Shumway contends the two violations deal with paperwork and not with the use of radioactive materials.

The case is before an administrative law judge in Washington, D.C., Shumway said. NRC officials said he will be entitled to a hearing on the fine. They were hesitant to talk about the particulars of the disagreement since it is in litigation.

Several of the residents said they never knew radioactive materials were being used at the company and came to the meeting because they were afraid of having been exposed.

Francis Costello, an NRC physicist, said, "We don't believe any individual received any dangerous level of exposure. It was not harmful to the health." He said the fine was levied not because people were endangered, but because the company's operation wasn't up to NRC standards.

Costello explained that NRC regulations are stringent and leave a wide margin between what might be harmful to a person's health and what is a violation.

North American Inspections was licensed by the NRC in April 1984 to use radioactive materials to take "X-ray-like pictures" of welds in pipelines and other industrial products to determine if there are defects, Shumway said, adding that only about 1 percent of the total work is done at the Laurys Station facility. The rest of the testing is done at the sites of their customers, which include Bethlehem Steel, Mack Trucks, Air Products and Chemicals and Buckeye Pipeline.

Shumway said that although the NRC regularly inspects his site, a "disgruntled" employee he laid off may have told the commission to check the garage in October. He has operated a radiography business under several names at the garage behind the Hi-Way Restaurant on Route 145 since 1974.

When asked by a resident if an accident could occur at the garage, Costello said it could if equipment were used improperly. Shumway interjected, "No accident could ever happen."

Judith Leiby, who lives behind the garage, asked Shumway, "What if 15 years from now they find radiation in my well? Will you buy my home from me?"

The company is now in compliance with NRC regulations and has agreed that it will not do any radiography inside the building, said John Kinneman, a chief in the NRC division of radiation safety and safeguards. The NRC has not inspected the site since June.

Shumway said he has performed radiography tests on the property outside the garage, but they do not present any danger to residents.

Questions arose as to whether Shumway was permitted under the North Whitehall Township zoning code to operate a radiography business in that area of the township. No one seemed to know the answer.

At the conclusion of the meeting Shumway said, "I have a business here, but I also have a family here, too." Shumway lives next to the garage with his wife and two sons.

"I could move that business anywhere, but I like it here, and I would like to be at peace," he said. "I wouldn't do anything to harm my neighbors. I want to stay here."